14 DAY TRIAL // A man has been arrested in New Jersey after bringing two improvised explosive devices (IEDs) on a NJ Transit train.
According to The Jersey Journal, 27-year-old Mykyta Panasenko set up the bombs eight days before the Boston Marathon explosions, in which three people were killed and several others were seriously injured.
He walked on the Hoboken train headed for Suffern, New York on April 7 carrying the explosive devices, and was arrested on the spot.
The investigation into Panasenko's intentions has been led by the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force and the Port Authority Police Department.
The suspect built “two destructive devices, specifically improvised explosive devices (IEDs) constructed from a cylinder containing Pyrodex (black powder),” their reports reads.
Said report has not been made public until his court hearing on Wednesday, Huffington Post unveils. Panasenko was born in Kiev, Ukraine and has lived in Jersey City in recent years.
He attended Rutgers University in New Brunswick and has been working with gaming company High 5 Games in the mathematical field.
He was with “recklessly creating widespread risk of injury or damage to a building which normally contains 25 or more persons by constructing the explosive devices.”
The IEDs did not go off on the train and there was no information on whether or not they were functional, but the incident did prompt a search of the suspect's residence.
Officers from the Jersey City Police Department Bomb Squad raided the house and found more evidence of suspicious activity.
Jersey City Police Deputy Chief Peter Nalbach explained that a tip led them to Panasenko. When his home was searched, police found items which could have been used to build more bombs.
“Materials that may have been used to make an explosive device” were recovered at the residence, a law enforcement source adds.